A wink, lip synching and looks similar to Zac Efron were all it took for Conner Teahan to become a YouTube sensation. “Jayhawk Musical,” a spoof of “High School Musical” starring Teahan, has been viewed 56,000 times to date on YouTube, not to mention it was featured on Sportsillustrated.com’s “Hot Clicks” section.

Teahan, Leawood sophomore and men’s basketball player, had heard plenty of times that he was a Zac Efron look-alike, but his performance in the JayRock skit, “Jayhawk Musical,” added to the comparisons.

JayRock is an annual variety show put on by student athletes. This is the fourth year the show has run.

Just one week after JayRock coordinator Matt Baysinger loaded the video onto YouTube, the video attracted more than 50,000 viewers and 30 comments.

Volleyball player Katie Martincich, another star in the skit, thought the video would be viewed only by friends and family.

“It was fun to actually see other people’s reactions,” Martincich, Shawnee junior, said. “People I went to high school with had seen it because they had heard about it from someone else.”

After coming up with the High School Musical idea for the skit, Martincich and her teammates sought help from Teahan and his teammates. Martincich said she thought it would only be funny if Teahan was involved because of the Zac Efron comparisons.

Tyrel Reed, Teahan’s teammate, who was also in the skit, said Teahan received some teasing because of his part in the skit.

“He’s gotten quite a bit of flak from us because he does look like the character Zac Efron,” Reed, Burlington sophomore, said. “But you know he did it all out of fun and he can have a sense of humor about it.”

Teahan thought no one would find out about the skit, so he said he didn’t think his participation was going to be a big deal.

“It’s just more people have seen this video, making me kind of look like the High School Musical man,” Teahan said.

Instead of people comparing Teahan to Zac Efron, Teahan said he thought that it should be the other way around. Teahan took credit for having his long, shaggy hair before the High School Musical movies came out.

Jimmy Traina, senior producer for Sportsillustrated.com, receives reader e-mails with pop culture references and decides what to put on his “Hot Clicks” section. Traina will feature an item in his section if it is unique, like the Kansas video.

Traina said he thought this type of video made fans realize athletes were human and had a personality off the playing field.

“More athletes should be aware of that,” Traina said. “Fans really want to embrace athletes. We got into this mode where you can’t have any contact with fans.”

Traina said he saw a trend of athletes creating blogs and doing things outside their sports that made them seem more approachable and more than just athletes.

Teahan said he saw the importance of activities like this outside of his sport.

“It kind of shows a different side of us that people really don’t get to see that often,” Teahan said. “I think that’s good for people to understand that we do have a different side.”

— — Edited by Casey Miles